FOR BROKERS: E-Transaction Management

BY ROBERT FREEDMAN

Differing end uses
System features
A still-infant industry

Online tracking back on track

Four years ago, at the height of the dot-com boom, technology companies raced to offer real estate brokers “the” online platform that would enable their associates to manage leads, track transactions, oversee closings, and stay in touch with clients through a system that manages post-closing services.

The rationale for having such a platform was the competitive advantage of helping your customers and clients at a markedly increased pace. It wasn’t uncommon to hear talk of eventually achieving all-electronic transaction processing that could speed closings to a matter of days or hours rather than weeks.

But, as suddenly as efforts to develop and market these platforms appeared, they disappeared from the radar screen. Dot-coms that had seen the industry as ripe for automation struggled to survive, their capitalization sinking under the collapse of high-tech stocks and their technology platforms failing to generate widespread interest in the residential brokerage community.

Among the companies that pulled the plug or scaled back were iProperty, maker of the Chorus transaction management platform, which ended its effort in early 2001; HomeAdvisor, which rolled its Realty Desktop effort into a division within its parent, MSN; and Homestore, which replaced its e-REALTOR® platform with a lower-profile initiative that goes by the name DealTrack.

But new players have put the spotlight back on electronic transaction management. They say their products reflect a better understanding of the business and appeal to a real need in the brokerage community.

Holly Quick, whose company has been using a product from Stewart Realty Solutions, is impressed. “Once information on a transaction is put into the system, I’m alerted to everything I need to do, when I need to do it, and all the tools are in place—letter templates, forms—for me to complete the tasks immediately,” says Quick, transaction manager with Jo Ellen Nash & Co., a small independent residential brokerage in Edwards, Colo. “It’s completely changed the way I do things.”

Quick manages transactions in a team environment, led by a broker who generates most of the business, a listing manager, and four buyer specialists. At any one time, she’s managing 12–15 transactions from the point at which the transactions are placed under contract to closing. That’s up from four to five transactions she was able to coordinate manually at one time, Quick says.

Quick’s enthusiasm is in sharp contrast to reactions to earlier systems, according to Mark Lesswing, vice president of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Center for REALTOR® Technology. In those days, “brokers had to spend too much customizing the systems to meet their needs.”

Although today’s programs still require some level of customization for each broker client, the systems now come with applications and documents that can be used more widely among brokers, whatever market they’re in, says Lesswing.

What’s more, the field has attracted big players with deep roots in real estate, including many from the title side of the business—Stewart, FNIS Real Estate Services, and First American Residential Group—that have the resources to stay in the game. “These big players are more likely to convince people to go with them,” says Lesswing.

But boutique companies, such as GURU NETworks Inc. and Wintrans Solutions Inc., are carving out niches by marketing directly to associates and independent consultants who do transaction coordination on a fee basis, Lesswing says.

Differing end uses
Another key difference between today’s transaction management platforms and those of a few years ago: The new generation isn’t trying to be all things to all people. Instead, players are touting particular strengths for three distinct end users:

• Associates. These systems enable associates to automate lead management and help them capture clients.
• Brokers and independent transaction coordinators. These systems pull together paperwork and manage a transaction to the point of closing.
• Settlement providers. These systems, offered mainly by title companies, manage the closing process

Few systems in the market today need to be limited to just one of these functions, and indeed, companies say their platforms can be customized to manage tasks throughout the business continuum if the client wants to go that route.

System features
Whatever the approach taken, systems today tend to have many features in common. Among them:
Browser-based interface. Gone are the days of proprietary software that users loaded onto their computer. Systems today are accessed via a Web browser.

• Multiple users. Systems have their licensed users—those who are paying money to use the system, typically associates, brokers, transaction coordinators, lenders, or title officers. But they also have multiple authorized users. These are the people—vendors, other professionals, and principals to the deal—who access selected pieces of information on the transaction. They typically pay nothing.
• Differing access. Licensed users dictate who can access which information, thereby keeping control of the transaction. They’re the ones who work with the technology provider to determine what the system will do, what other systems it will integrate with, and so on.
• Continuous support. When you adopt a platform, you adopt a system of support to go along with it. That typically includes upfront setup and training and ongoing technical support, usually accessible online or through a call desk.
• Variable pricing. You typically pay an upfront setup fee that varies based on the number of users and the level of customization you want and an ongoing monthly subscription or per-transaction fee that varies based on volume.
• RETS compatibility. Most of today’s transaction management platforms can be made compliant with new industry data transmission standards that have been backed by NAR, the Real Estate Technology Standards (RETS), once the demand is there.

 A still-infant industry
Transaction management platforms remain a new idea that has yet to enter the mainstream of the real estate industry. No company offering a platform has more than several thousand licensed users.

Eventually, however, most transactions will be managed electronically, proponents say.

“I would never go back to managing transactions manually,” says Quick, who has used Stewart’s SureClose (now RealtyAssist) since early 2003. “If I were to go to a company that didn’t have a system in place, I would set one up.”

CLICK CONNECT
Wintrans Solutions Inc., Los Gatos, Calif., David Hamrick, COO, 877/387-2671, ext 205

Pricing

Individual user: $600 a year base cost, includes setup, initial training.

Companywide user: $400 per user and up, depending on volume and applications. Customization charged separately.

Transaction coordinator user: $25–$45 per transaction, depending on volume, or flat fee with unlimited transactions.

Number of customers
500, including two clients using the system companywide (representing 150 users) and three independent transaction coordinators.

Highlights
Emphasis on operational speed, key for systems without high-speed Internet connections. Integration of MLS, contact manager, and other functions, in custom-branded frame. Users choose applications, such as for loan processing, and their preferred software, or they can choose in-house systems.

Training/assistance

Individual user: three one-hour Web training sessions.

Companywide user: 10–20 hours for “train the trainer” sessions, plus phone support line. All clients: online chat room, and e-mail support.

G3 ENTERPRISE, G3 DIRECT
GURU NETworks Inc., Chantilly, Va., Penny Sullivan, vice president of business development, 800/487-8638

Pricing
Both systems: $350 startup fee per licensed user, plus basic ongoing fee: $49 per month with unlimited transactions or $35 per transaction. Multiple user discounts; ongoing fee increases as applications, such as human resources or accounting interface, are added.

Number of customers
5,000 single-licensed users, with strong representation among independent transaction coordinators. Within the 5,000 are 50 clients using the system companywide.

Highlights
G3 Enterprise: Back-office functions; lead management G3 Direct: Transaction management. Designed for customization. Upgrade basic platform to include back-office, front-office, and executive-office functions. Free unlimited training and support.

Training/assistance
Training for life of product. Online training includes regularly scheduled and as-needed one-on-one sessions. Telephone training includes as-needed one-on-one sessions and pager-based on-call support.

TRANSACTION MANAGER

First American Residential Group, Santa Ana, Calif., Kelly Pantis, vice president of marketing, 866/882-4353

Pricing
Varies, includes setup fee with training, nominal annual maintenance fee, and ongoing per-associate subscription or per-transaction fee, based on volume.

Number of customers
More than 23,000 brokers and associates, including users of Agent First, a “lighter” version of Transaction Manager (no back-office functions) geared to associates.

Highlights
Flexible platform configuration gives broker control over what each participant can view. Extensive integration with other systems, including automatic population of public records and MLS data, MS Word, export contact info, and title/closing systems.

Training/assistance
Live setup and operation training for technology administrators. End-user training. Online video tutorial and manuals. Reference guides.

TRANSACTION POINT
FNIS Real Estate Division, Santa Ana, Calif., Jack Willey, executive vice president and general manager, FNIS Real Estate Division, or Helki McLeod, director of marketing, Fidelity Business Systems Group, 866/499-2803

Pricing
$2,000–$10,000 license fee per site, depending on size and degree of configuration to workflow template; $10–$25 per transaction, based on factors that include transaction volume.

Number of customers
Doesn’t disclose licensed users; 60,000 authorized users.

Highlights
Integration with outside applications, including title production systems (led by SoftPro, with 8,000 title and escrow companies), mortgage lending platforms (led by RealEC network, with 600 lenders, 4,000 service providers), MLS platforms, and broker office systems (FNIS Broker Office Suite, with 55,000 associates and brokers. Integrated document management that pulls information from MLS and other sources, populating applications throughout the system, and sending information alerts directly to users’ desktop.

Training/assistance
Train the trainer for broker or transaction coordinator who runs the system. Users pay for higher levels of training.

REALTY ASSIST
Stewart Realty Solutions, Houston, Kelly Hawkins, director, realty technology, 866/608-6657, ext. 8177

Pricing
$10–$20 per file depending on volume. No additional access charge. $1,500–$2,500 average setup cost includes training, creating templates. Amount based on number of users and locations, time involved in training.

Number of customers
25 brokers.

(Stewart Title launched Stewart Realty Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary for marketing the platform to brokers, in January 2004.)

Highlights
Back-office and executive office functions; lead management; closing functions. Automatic notification feature instantly alerts associate if key task is completed or action is needed. Reflects workflow-management design based on broad-based industry experience. Flexible integration capabilities, including non-Stewart-based services. Cobranding gives platform look and feel of broker site.

Training/assistance
Setup and initial training of administrators within client company. Online broker training, 5–6 modules, including template creation and cobranding. Phone, e-mail, and online tech assistance.